Mirror Group websites join ABCe

Mirror Group Newspapers is set to become the latest newspaper group to publish its internet traffic data in the industry standard Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic figures.

But the Trinity Mirror division that publishes the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and the People has admitted to having some reservations about the methodology.

MGN websites will be included in the ABCe monthly traffic figures for the first time on Thursday.

It is believed that the figures will show that the group's websites draw a higher percentage of their traffic from the UK than their rivals, although this cannot be confirmed until publication.

"We believe ABCe is a meaningful metric but we do still have some reservations about the spread of published data," said Paul Hood, MGN's head of digital.

"While we of course agree that unique users and geography are key metrics, page impressions, in our view, are not a meaningful measure of engagement as they are extensively manipulated by some sites."

The group report will feature the company's main newspaper websites, mirror.co.uk, sundaymirror.co.uk, people.co.uk and dailyrecord.co.uk.

It will also include the fantasy football site youthemanager.co.uk, mirrorbingo.co.uk, scotcareers.co.uk and scotwheels.co.uk.

"Maximising user engagement remains a key goal for Mirror Group Digital, and we will continue to work with advertisers and trade bodies like the ABCe, AOP and IAB to find the most useful metrics," Hood said.

MGN's decision leaves the Independent, the Financial Times and Express Newspapers as the only national newspaper groups not to publish their web traffic through ABCe.

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